Noah: Man of God

Remnant Trilogy #3

by Tim Chaffey, K. Marie Adams

Time is finally running out. Mankind, with its wickedness and false religion, is reaching a point of no return, and Noah must fulfill God’s plan. Noah has experienced tragedy and loss yet has chosen to stand fast in his faith in the Creator. Judgment is approaching - but vengeance still stalks this righteous man who must do what has never been done to save the last remnants of this lost, antediluvian world.
This is the final book in the popular Remnant Trilogy.

Genres: Christian Fiction, Fiction, Biblical Fiction, Christian, Historical Fiction

315 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2018

Reviews

[sbu_andrew]

What a strange effect this series has had on me! I was so excited when this won our supporter poll. “Thank Nachash!” I thought. “I remember the other books so fondly. This will be interesting for sure!”

And boy, was it ever! For the first 30%. Later, I flipped the page, and read a bunch of random people talking about what well-behaved young men and women they are. “Oh wait!” I realized. “I forgot. These books suck.”

And that’s the problem with the whole thing, right? This is a three-volume advertisement for a young earth creationist theme park. I have a lot of tolerance—too much, I’ll admit—for weirdo beliefs, but while I don’t know if believing the world is 6000 years old or whatever is in and of itself the worst thing ever (in terms of harm caused to others), it’s concomitant with a lot of beliefs which ARE harmful, and to which I am diametrically opposed. So for moral reasons, I can never say this book/series is good, even if it was.

But the good news is, it’s not good, so I don’t have to worry about that moral conundrum.

Don’t get me wrong, there are good parts of it. The first 30% of this book is a great example. Some of the most unironic fun I’ve had reading fantasy fiction, pathos that resonated with me, choices I didn’t expect, dinosaur battles. But this chunk of goodness exists in SPITE of Noah—he’s in the action here and there, but it’s carried by Naamah. The second Noah reunites with Emzara, all the air is whooshed out of the narrative like the ark if it was inflatable. They meet up with like a billion random people and just faff about in Eden building the boat for years and years. At some point Noah goes off with his sons to find one of them a wife. Some people I forgot were in the scene die. Every now and then there’s a Naamah chapter thrown in to remind me that this is a story, and it all kind of fizzles out from there.

I think my disproportionate, blind fondness for this book stems from how Andrew the Guy loves books because you can reverse engineer the author’s goals and what makes them tick, and from how Andrew the Content Creator loves pretending to know what he’s talking about. The Remnant Trilogy hands us its intentions on a silver platter, like that guy’s head from that book I heard about one time. A non-insubstantial portion of the book is dedicated to why they wrote the books they way they did and what they wanted the readers to take away from it. The problem is—as I discussed in the previous episodes and will most certainly be said again in the episode on this book—it fails entirely to be the thing that it wants to be because it doesn’t understand who it’s talking about or to, as the case may be.

I’ve been watching as many interviews as I can find with our authors for this one (okay, “as many” is 2, but it doesn’t sound as authoritative). In one, Chaffey says he wants Noah to be relatable to a kid in youth group. You know who would have been relatable to ME, when I was in youth group, typing terrible YA fantasy on my iPod touch when I wasn’t googling the works of Anton LaVey? It wouldn’t be “I have no doubts that flooding the earth is a good thing and I love holding the door open for old ladies” Noah. It’d be Naamah. And if I’d read this series at that time, it wouldn’t work on me because I’d be so bored I’d throw the books away and never meet her.

The term that keeps coming to mind is “over-paramaterized”. The dance our authors are doing here is all based around not contradicting or adding to scripture (fwiw, I’m like 90% sure this book is heretical, but that’s between y’all and Saint Peter ig). Noah, as mentioned before, must be a good person because the Bible says he was righteous. In interviews, Chaffey says that “he’s still human, so he has his problems”, but these problems by my estimation are always external. Every iota of doubt he feels is whisked away by a prayer or coincidence. He doesn’t care, for longer than a sentence or two, about the keebler elves and friendly nomads who will be left behind, and to be fair, only a couple non-evil people ever express anything beyond mild concern that they’re going to die in a flood.

Another thing, of much smaller importance—Chaffey says “a lot of people writing the pre-flood world can get pretty crazy, but we didn’t want that.” WHY? Why do people use paper and ink? Why are there couriers and lanterns? Why are Adam and Eve buried in a way that feels so modern, complete with a gravestone? Why not go crazy? It’s the most bizarre choice to me, maybe just because I like speculative fiction. It feels like all the authors speculated was their grandparents’ hometown.

Anyways, I hope it’ll be an interesting discussion with me and J. We really run the worst podcast ever, seeing as how we’re going to try to analyze and constructively critique something so deeply sad and sinister. I have a sinking feeling I’ll leave this series like Noah and his family left Naamah’s forces at the end of this book. Trapped in a dark box of meticulously organized cages, the only things around you painfully familiar and orchestrated, thinking that something pretty exciting might have been on the other side

[Ron Wroblewski]

It is fun speculating how Noah's life went. He doesn't get to start building the ark until halfway through book 3. And he builds it just outside the Garden of Eden. This books are written by aurhors attached to the ARK ENCOUNTER in Kentucky, which I recommend you go visit. The books do depict how the world got worse and worse - like it is getting today. It does make you want to stay close to God and His instruction of how to live.

[Some Christian Lady]

I absolutely loved this trilogy… So much that I read the entire thing (all three books) in ten days lol. Highly recommended!

[Amanda]

A very satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. The story took me to unexpected places, which was wonderful when reading such a well known account. With all 3 books, I appreciated the way they made me rethink how things might have happened while shedding light on the truth that is known from the Bible. I highly recommend these books.

[Anna Vest]

Amazing, my new favorite series- I would give this 10 stars if I could!!! So good!

[Paul Schmidt]

This was a fun trilogy. The authors sought to press against some of the stereotypes that people often believe are biblical that are not. It is enjoyable to imagine pre-flood life and to remember that the biblical characters were real people and not flannelgraph or cartoons. Some of the content would cause me to not recommend this book for young readers (mid to late teen would be fine). The story does end right at the beginning of the flood, but I was looking forward to reading about the flood and life afterwards. Again, do not expect Tolkein level of writing, and do expect certain aspects of the writing to be a tad awkward. However, take it for what it is, understand the relatively wide audience the authors have to write for, and just enjoy the little ride.

[Maryann]

The final installment of the Noah series does not disappoint! Engaging, suspenseful, and thoughtful, this conclusion gives us a well-rounded, full-circle fictional account of real history.
Sometimes it is hard to find good fiction inside of the Christian literature genre. Although an easy read, this book was a great way to see what the world that Noah lived in could be like, while tying in the historical account of the flood.
I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to find wholesome reading, including adults and teens (with discernment).

[Ruth]

I have enjoyed all three of the Noah books,this concluding book is my favorite. I feel they have created unique characters and a world that is also unique. There is plenty of action and emotion. There is a segment in this book where Noah is learning about his ancestors. It is beautifully written and creates a vivid scene. The ending is dramatic. There is some non-fiction at the back of this volume also, shich compliments the story.

[Olivia]

This series itself is interesting, posing some interesting thoughts and speculations surrounding the time of Noah. It was the way the story was executed that I struggled with. I couldn't quite connect with what was happening most of the time and personally I think the characters should have a little less modern speech to their conversations. While my rating is low I think many will find this story interesting.

[Deon]

*This is a review copy from the publisher, Master Books. No review, positive or otherwise, was required—all opinions are my own.*

Noah: Man of God was a great, satisfying ending to the Remnant Trilogy. This wasn't your usual telling of the familiar Bible story. The author did not choose to stay within the confines of the bare bones of the story, but gives you some imaginative ideas to think about within the allowable parameters of the biblical text. I felt like Noah was more of a real person rather than just a story. It felt as though I was seeing Noah trust God when he really had little to go on.
I knew that only Noah and his family would get on the ark, but often wondered about his friends and family throughout. Even though I knew the ending, I felt some suspense. The author did a great job working out their journeys.

At the end of the book there is a question & answer section. This was helpful in gaining more insight on the fact & the fiction side of the story.

There is also a section called Encounter This. In this section you can connect the story to the Ark Encounter project in Williamstown, Kentucky.

I would recommend this book for teens and adults.

[Ruth]

A satisfying trilogy of Noah. I enjoyed the author's imagination of Noah's life before he built the ark and faced the flood. In a sense it made Noah a more personable man with a vibrant social life. I recommend this book to all.

[Ebookwormy1]

Supported by the non-fiction sections at the end of the text, Man of God concludes this Biblical historical fiction account of the life of Noah. As with Man of Resolve (The Remnant Trilogy #2), Man of God (The Remnant Trilogy #3) makes some large time jumps. As the narrative unspools, you can see the authors matching the Biblical timeline given for the deaths of Noah’s father (Lamech) and Grandfather (Methusalah) according to the Bible book of Genesis.

One of the most compelling themes from this installment was Noah’s distress over the infertility of his marriage with Emzara. Noah does seem to be an older father with his sons being born when he was 500 years old (Genesis 5:22), which is far older than even his father and grandfather, whose offspring are recorded in their 180s. Genesis does not tell us the age of Adam (and Eve, calculated from creation) at the birth of Cain or Abel, only telling us Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old. Nor do the lineage tables mention daughters. Therefore, we do not know if Noah had daughters or other sons who were lost perhaps prior to his 500th year or in the flood itself.

I found the choice to present Noah building the Ark in seclusion an interesting one, as well as the inclusion of rain and earthquakes prior to the flood. God’s communication with and direction of Noah was well written. The authors capture the glory of the LORD, the content of His message to Noah, and Noah and his family’s confusion on how to follow the LORD’s direction. They also deal with the growing tension of the evil of the outside world and how those in Noah’s party (some of whom are born in seclusion) might respond to being cut off from extended family and events beyond their settlement, culminating in only Noah, his sons, and his sons wives entering the Ark. The question of whether they were the only ones saved/ pleasing to God or whether believers died in the flood was also examined in a thought-provoking way that left resolution in God’s hands, trusting He would do what is right. Navigation of these factual points made for an interesting journey.

I think the text of Genesis 7 implies that Noah, his family, and the animals were loaded before the rain came, which is not the path Chaffey & Adams chose for Noah: Man of God. As the storm picks up, the book closes with the door to the Ark which I found a little abrupt. I would have liked to read about the challenges they faced during the flood, as they moved through the stages of grief and cared for both their and the animals’ daily needs. Emergence from the Ark, Noah’s sacrifice, the Noahic covenant, and Noah’s vineyard, as well as the Curse upon Canaan (Ham’s son) could all be examined in context of God’s regeneration of the earth after the judgement (which 2 Peter talks about as a foreshadowing of the judgement and regeneration of the end).

See my review of the entire series, which also includes some comments on the Ark Encounter:
The Remnant Trilogy, Chaffey & Adams, 2018
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Kaitlyn Rinehart]

This book is a well written conclusion to the trilogy. I highly recommend it.

[Rosa]

I loved this series and was actually slightly disappointed to finish it. The creativity and thought that went into this trilogy is amazing!

As I stated in my reviews of the first two books, I really enjoyed and appreciated how the authors intentionally distinguished fiction from Scripture.

"As we have done throughout this series, we sought to go against many of the popular ideas about Noah and the Ark that are not found directly in Scripture. The reason for this is to challenge people to look closely at the Bible and base their ideas on it rather than on popular retellings of Noah." p. 294

As I read through this trilogy, there were numerous times that I thought "that's not how the story goes" but then realized that the Bible never told us that part of the story! The people mocking Noah as he builds the Ark is a good example of this.

"If you are wondering why we did not include mockers during the Ark's construction, it is because the Bible never mentions them. People are often quite surprised, and sometimes upset, when I point this out, but it is true. The Bible never states that people made fun of Noah while hw worked on the Ark." p. 294

This last book is not quite as action packed as the first two books, but it still keeps the reader's interest and continues the plot of the trilogy. I thought the authors did a good job in drawing conclusions to the lives of some of the characters mentioned in the first two books. While everyone knows that only eight people were on the Ark, this trilogy incorporates many more people than just Noah and his immediate family. Clearly these "extras" needed to be eliminated before the Flood and while emotional at times, the methods in which they were eliminated from the story felt natural and supported the story beautifully.

I definitely recommend this trilogy! Aside from a truly "fun read", it really caused me to realize how many times we heard things as children from a Sunday school teacher and just continue to believe it into our adult lives, never actually questioning all the little details of a story such as Noah.

[Terri]

crazy work of fiction...I can handle the crazy things I didn't believe, but what I can't handle is having prayers and praises to satan imprinted in my mind...I can completely get the gist of santanic worship without the actual words being printed on the page... this is the same problem I had with the last books in the left behind series...and more than that the deceivers names were printed in the book in capitals which is totally reserved and reverenced for God Almighty only! did not like the trilogy at all I was hoping to get Noah and his families story of possibilities that they went through while they were going through the storm and what life in the ark might of been how they worshiped God during the rain fall the power of thunder and lightning the book ended at the closing of the door to the ark.

[Jonas #yourwelcome]

Amazing!!

[Ayden Tilton]

This series has been very thought provoking for me. We are given relatively few details on the lives of many of the Saints of the Old and New Testament, and this story shows you things that could have happened in their lives, and makes you realize there’s a lot that was left out of the Bible, such as how might the ark have taken care of food and water and waste, how did Noah’s sons find wives, what was work and social life like back then, and what technology did they have. It’s really interesting to read such an adventure with Bible characters as it makes the true stories of the Bible become far more real.
I cried many times throughout this book. You grow fond of the characters, and of course, it’s a very tragic ending, as almost everyone dies. That is something I’ve never thought or; what happened to the people in the world who might have also followed God at the time. The whole book, you know these people you’re reading about will either die now, or die in the flood, so there’s a cloud of foreboding over the whole series and over every happy moment.
It was somewhat annoying that all of the characters were so hard to keep track of in this story. It doesn’t help that everyone is related to everyone very closely, and you lose track of who is whose uncle or cousin or dad. Another added confusing is that most of the characters have the same personality. They’re all just super nice and perfect, and the couples all have perfect relationships. There’s little conflict among the main characters, and when there is, it’s resolved within the chapter. I understand that it was meant to show how good these people were relative to the evil people in the world. But it was a little too cringy.
I think it’s incredibly cool that the Ark Encounter had a lot of hidden easter eggs with this series, and I’m super excited to visit it and look for the little insiders that only the people who have read the series will notice.

[Debbie]

This book is the third in a series about Noah from the Bible. It basically picks up in the middle of the action, where we left Noah at the end of the previous book. You need to read the previous books to really understand the relationships and motivations in this one. This book covered the time between the pregnancy and birth of Noah's first son to his family getting on the ark as the Flood begins.

This book is written like they expected it to be made into an action movie. Noah is a hunted man with a price on his head, so Noah and some other believers decide to hide out where no one else lives to make the ark. We get little information about the construction of the ark as the focus remained on all the evil they encounter getting to their new home and when they occasionally leave their home. Noah interprets God's words to mean that only he and his family will be on the ark, and those he tells about the ark struggle with the idea that God will not save them.

Rather than describing animals and plants with words that we are familiar with, like horse, the authors described what the animal or plant looked like. This gave the book a fantasy feel because you're left to guess which kind of animal or plant is being referred to. The authors had some things like rain (and rainbows), earthquakes, and volcanoes before the Flood. They gave their reasons for doing this in a section at the back of the book.

[Anna Catherman]

Noah: Man of God concluded the Remnant Trilogy in an interesting way. I thought I'd prepared myself for the inevitable ends of so many characters, but the graphic descriptions of their deaths and the anguish of the remaining characters' mourning were painful to read. Aside from that, which was almost a good sort of pain, I did enjoy this book quite well. Personally, I found the ending to be a little weak, but still satisfactory. One note I will make with this series: in the authors' attempts to try to abandon tropes, I felt like they did a poor job at times with making things seem believable and/or not like a blatant disregard of tradition and folklore. Other than that, I really liked it. A solid 3.5-4* for the series overall. Would recommend to Biblical fiction lovers, although my favorite Biblical fiction writer, Tessa Afshar, will still be my go-to pick for ladies in particular.

[Barbara]

A great book to end the trilogy of Noah's life. The authors state that they don't add to scripture, because there is very little that describes Noah's life. But it is an interesting tale. The portrayal of how evil manifested itself makes one see what is really going on today. Pretty scary. At the back of the book, the reader can read how the story relates to the Ark Encounter - a must see for everyone. There are a lot of other explanations of how the authors came up with some of the names and events. This trilogy makes you appreciate and admire Noah for his dedication to the Lord.

The story moves along and remains interesting to the end. The characters are relatable. I'm just sorry that the book ended when the rain began to fall. It would be interesting to read about life on the ark. It may not have been as action packed with the limited number of characters, but it would still be interesting.

[A Busscher]

I think this was prob. the best written book out the 3, but still sometimes a bit too "perfect". Now Noah as 3 sons and lo and behold they all need wives to fulfill Gods' message of sons AND wives and the first 3 women that happen to be their age are their wives. It did get me thinking about time line in the fact that Noah spent time with his grandfather Methuselah and that Methuselah spent time with Adam and Eve. I never thought about that since they all lived past 600's. I also never thought about the rumor and the story that the original people knew about Eden, it was in the family history to not go to the garden.

[Gayle]

I really enjoyed this whole trilogy series, although I think the third book was the best. Based on the Biblical telling of Noah, this book helps you to understand that Noah was a real person. Some parts of the book don't line up with the way you have been taught about this story. The author purposely did this "to break certain stereotypes about Noah and the pre-Flood world that many Christians assume are from the Bible, but are not actually found there." The book is an adventure, thriller, mystery, suspense, fantasy, and love story all combined.

[Taryn Spearey]

What a fantastic trilogy this was! This final book had the main focus on Noah reciving the news from God that he was going to build a ark and God would flood the earth.

My least favorite character in this whole trilogy was Naamah. I know that she's supposed to be the queen, but, I found her to be a really horrible leader.

I loved seeing all of Noah's sons help him build the ark. Then, they are all together and safe during the flood.

If you're a Christian, this trilogy is a must read, in my opinion!

[Janet Wolfson]

I was disappointed in this series. I thought it would give some backstory of Noah, then concentrate on building the Ark, obtaining the animals, loading the Ark, the Flood starting, what it was like living on the Ark and then the world after the Flood. Instead, the building of the Ark didn't even start until the final third of Book 3 and the series ended with the Flood starting. It was really a fictional story of the pre-Flood world, which is fine, but not really a story about the Ark and Flood.

[Kelsey Worley]

Loved it, but wanted more

I really enjoyed this series! The only thing i wish was it ended quickly...and there was nothing on the journey after the flood began. Nothing about the actual trip. How they felt once they were shut in the ark? The journey? I think one more book would have been perfect.

[Dan Johnson]

What a monumental finish to the trilogy.

The story of Noah and God’s provision for us is one of the most well known passages in the Bible. What must it have been like to live in a society that was nothing but evil? How did Noah’s family work through God’s directive for decades? The author did such a wonderful job of making the people in the historic event real.

[Steven Curo]

An excellent story about the life of Noah. There is a lot of fiction in this book but the environment around Noah is based on what the Bible says about the world at the time. Some very interesting things I had never considered before. This is book 3 of a trilogy. You need to read the first two books before reading this one.

[Taylor Fish]

This is such a good book! I did not want to put it down! And just when I started to share Emzara’s fears, everything became clear! With the evil silenced for some time, I think Noah and his family can finally relax, knowing that they’re in the Creators hands!

[Dr. Michael Shanks]

Awesome plausible story of how the creator fulfilled His Word in the Noah story!

Anyone who wants to get further understanding into the flood and much more will enjoy this encounter...not only at the Ark in Kentucky, but in these pages!

[Beverly]

I loved and thoroughly enjoyed this series of books. Besides the exciting story, I very much appreciated the back matter which explained how the authors took ideas from the Bible, how they decided on names for characters, and other interesting facts.